School support workers in the South Shore will vote today on a deal to end their nearly two-week long strike.

The tentative agreement was reached between South Shore Regional Centre of Education and Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union bargaining teams Tuesday with the help of a conciliator.

The union’s bargaining committee is recommending members accept the agreement when they vote on the deal later today.

If the agreement is ratified the workers could be off the picket lines and back into schools Thursday.

The proposed deal comes the same day union members from the Annapolis Valley voted by 92.3 per cent to accept their new tentative agreement.

According to a release from the NSGEU, Annapolis Valley School Support workers will be leveled up to the highest rates of pay for their positions in Nova Scotia during the life of this collective agreement, which extends from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2024.

Getting wage parity for workers in the same jobs across Nova Scotia was the goal of walkouts held in the Valley and South Shore in the past two weeks.

NSGEU President Sandra Mullen was pleased the provincial government let the bargaining process play out.

“After more than a decade of living with the austerity legacy of past-Premier Stephen McNeil, we are finally able to see that the collective bargaining process works, when it is allowed to do so,” said President Mullen, “The current government not only allowed the bargaining process to unfold as it should – without legislative interference tipping the scales – but they have agreed to the principle of parity and fairness for these workers, and that is something that should be credited.”

No details of the proposed agreement between the South Shore Regional Centre for Education and its workers will be released until the membership has the opportunity to see and vote on the deal today.

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